Open railway-car



(No Model.)

D. K. Menon. OPEN RAILWAY GAR.

Patented Mar. 19, 1895.

wk ESEJES Nirso STATES ATENT OFFICE.

DONALD K. MCLEOD` OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

OPEN RAILWAY-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lett ers Patent No. 536,039, dated March 19, 1895.

Application led April 1894. Serial No. 506,526. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, DONALD K. MCLEOD, re-

the accompanying drawings, is'a specification,

like letters on the drawingsrepresenting like parts.

This invention is an improvement in railway carsof that class known as open cars, and is especially applicable to open cars operated on surface railways.

Open street railway cars as now commonly constructed, are provided on each side of the car, with a foot board extending the length of the car and rigidly attached to the car body,^by means of which ingress and egress areaorded into and from the car.

My present invention has for its object, to provide a novel construction as will be described, whereby the foot board of op'en cars as now commonly constructed may be turned upward againstrthe ends of the seats of the car to practically close the sides of the car when desired, and when lowered into its operative position is attached to the car body, so as to resist heavy shocks and blows, such as might be given by teams striking against the said foot board.

In accordance with this invention, the foot board is firmly bolted or otherwise secured to yhangers or depending arms pivoted to brackets, preferably of a novel construction as will be described, and which are bolted or otherwise firmly attached to the sides of the car body. These and other features of this invention willvbe pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure l is a side elevation of a street railway open car embodying this invention, and Fig. 2, is a sectional detail on an enlarged scale and on the line 22, Fig. l to be referred to. f

The car body A may be of any suitable or'desired construction and is herein represented as of the type such as employed on street railways, the said car body being provided with the usual seats a located on the bottom of the car frame ot so as to leave the usual passageway a? between them.

The car body A, in accordance with this invention, has firmly secured to its opposite sides, and preferably to the sides of the frame a', a plurality of brackets preferably of the construction herein shown, each bracket consisting of a back plate b', which is bolted or otherwise securely fastened to the sides of the frame a', and ears b2 extended substantially at right angles to the back plate and preferably of the same height as the said plate.`

The ears b2 have pivotally secured between them hangers or arms b3, provided with substantially rectangular extensions b4 to which is firmly secured as by the bolts, rivets or screws b5, the foot board b, ofany usual or suitable construction and preferably such as now commonly found on-open street railway cars, the said foot board having erected from it a toe board o7. Each hanger b', as herein shown (sze Fig. 2), is provided at its upper end with an eye bs, through which is extended a rivet or bolt b9, constituting a pivot for the said hanger, the said rivet or bolt being extended through the ears h2. on the bracket. The ears b? are preferably separated a distance substantially equal to the width of the hanger band for the best results, the said hanger is pivoted near the upper ends of the ears, so as to obtain asubstantially long bearing or brace for the hanger, to strengthen the same and to enable the hangerto withstand severe blows, which may` be received by the `foot board, as by a team striking the foot board when in its lowered position.

In open street railway cars and especially in suchv cars propelled by electricity, it is desirable that the open car should be provided with a safe-guard on that side adjacent to the line of tracks running in an opposite direction from that Vin which the car moves. This result is accomplished as herein shown by suspending the foot board 66 by the hangers b3 pivoted to the brackets secured to the car body, and this construction is especially advantageous in that the foot board as now commonly constructed and found on open street railway cars, may be utilized, and in that the car body as now found and constructed may also be utilized,it being only necessar7 to apply the brackets to the car frame and attach the foot board by means of the pivotal hangers.

The foot board on the side of the car adja- IOO cent to the track on which the cars run in an opposite direction, may be raised from its full line position shown in the drawings into its dotted line position, and when in this dotted line position, no means is afforded for the egress of passengers on that side of the car, and the said foot board may be retained in its elevated position by any suitable mechanism and it may be elevated and lowered by mechanical means carried by the car, such as chains operated by either the conductor or motorman, or it may be elevated by hand and hooked or otherwise suitably held in its elevated position, and inasmuch as themechanical means by which the foot board may be locked in its elevated position, may be of any suitable construction, I have not herein shown any particular construction, as a variety of means may be employed for this purpose.

It has been the object of this invention, to provide an open street railway car with a movable side foot board, and to provide such a construction of attachment, that the foot board now found on street railway carsmay be utilized without change to itself and also without change to the car body, so that the present street railway cars ot this class may be changed after the manner herein shown and described, at very little expense, so as to possess the advantageous features of this invention.

As an additional safeguard to deter passengers from attempting to pass from the car over the elevated foot board, I prefer to employ a single chain or flexible connection, secured to the endmost stanchions or standards d or a short chain d may be extended across each passageway between the seats, and one end of the said short chain may be securely fastened to one stanchion and detachably fastened to an adjacent stanchion. These chains sedes@ will preferably be located a little above the tops of the seats, as shown in Fig. i, or at any other suitable distance.

The foot board b when in its elevated position may and preferably will be held away from the side of the car body a slight distance by cushions e of rubber or other suitable material, secured to the sides of the car body in any suitable manner, so that in wet weather, the water from the foot board will not drift or fall on to and deface the sides of the car.

I claiml. In an open street railway car, the combination with the car body, of brackets secured to the sides of the car body above the bottom ot' the same, a foot board extending in the direction of the length ofthe car at its side, and hangers rigidly secured to the said foot board and pivotally secured to the said brackets above the bottom of. the car body whereby there is afforded for the hanger a firm support against the car body, substantially as described.

2. In an open street railway car, the cornbinaton with the car body, of a plurality of brackets secured to the sides of the same and each consisting of a back plate provided with ears projecting outwardly from the side of the car body, hangers pivotally secured to the brackets between the ears, said ears extending along the hangers, said hangers being pro vided with an extension 114, and a foot board rigidly secured to said extension; substan tially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DONALD K. MCLEOD. lVitnesses:

Jas. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY. 

